What is All Saints’ Day and who celebrates it?

WARSAW, Poland – It is the time of year – says tradition – when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is lifted.

That traditional belief has morphed over the centuries into the spooky and secular celebration of Halloween.

But a day later, Christians in many countries around the world celebrate All Saints’ Day on Friday, a somber and spiritual day in the church’s liturgical calendar that shares pagan roots with Halloween.

The History of ‘Halloween’

The word ‘Halloween’ is derived from ‘All Hallows Eve’, which means the eve of All Saints’ Day, a holiday also known as All Saints’ Day. It honors martyrs and saints – those who were sanctified or considered holy – a tradition started by the Roman Catholic Church in the early Middle Ages.

Scholars believe the spectral aspects of Halloween emerged primarily from Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival that took place during the harvest season, said Morgan Shipley, a professor of religious studies at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

It was a time when people “moved from harvest and abundance and the fullness of summer to the desolation of winter,” he said. “And it was said that at this time the veil between the physical, material human world and the spiritual world is essentially disappearing.”

Some spirits or ghostly beings were considered demonic in nature, and bonfires became a way to ward them off, or were used by Druid priests and priestesses in divination as the veil between the material and spiritual worlds broke down, he said.

All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day

As Christianity spread, many pagan rituals were adapted to the new faith to be more attractive to converts. The period of reflection on the dead continues until November 2, All Souls’ Day.

In Central Europe, the Slavic and Baltic populations had their own rituals between October 31 and November 1 in which the living communicated with the dead.

Both believers and non-believers in many traditionally Roman Catholic societies celebrate this day.

Finka Heynemann, 34, visited the Brodno cemetery in Warsaw with her mother on Friday morning. They had plans to visit six cemeteries in Warsaw in three days – even though they are not religious.

“It’s just important to keep the tradition alive and visit the graves and respect and honor the ancestors,” Heynemann said.

“This day is more important than Christmas or Easter,” added her mother, Maja Gąssowska, who paused to put money in a collection box for a Polish cemetery in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, which was once part of Poland.

In Poland, many travel back to their childhood homes to gather with those who are still alive and reflect on those who left them.

So many people celebrate the holiday that cemeteries are transformed into flickering carpets of light so impressive that even the most secular people feel moved. Cities, including Warsaw and Krakow, have many additional tram and bus lines to transport the enormous numbers to – and between – cemeteries.

Although the reflections are mainly personal, people also leave candles at the graves of national heroes. So many people visit cemeteries at the same time that the celebration takes on a communal character.

It has become so much part of the wider culture in Poland that people also place candles in Jewish and Muslim cemeteries.

In the Philippines, millions flocked to cemeteries across the country on Friday to observe the annual tradition and visit the graves of their loved ones.

“Even when I am old, I still visit the graves of my relatives, especially my husband’s, during All Saints’ Day,” said Dory Oliquino, a resident of Manila who was among the thousands offering flowers and candles at the Manila North Cemetery in the nation’s capital. capital. “As long as I can walk, I will visit him.”

For many Filipinos, All Saints’ Day is a family reunion, where they keep vigil at the graves.

“All Saints’ Day is the day when we celebrate and remember our loved ones who have passed away, so that even when they are gone, our memories are still fresh in our minds,” said Luis Montibon.

Italians traditionally visit cemeteries to pay tribute to deceased relatives on All Souls’ Day, lighting candles or laying flowers. Pope Francis will visit Rome’s third-largest cemetery, the Laurentino Cemetery, to celebrate Mass and lead prayers for the dead. The pope visited the same cemetery in 2018 and stopped to pray in a room dedicated to fetuses.

As the holiday approaches, there have been discussions in recent years about Halloween and its compatibility with Christian beliefs in the afterlife.

Poles began celebrating Halloween after the fall of communism in 1989, but some worry that foreign cultural imports could eventually dilute the All Saints’ Day tradition. Some Catholics worry that it could also be sinful because of allusions to devils and ghosts. Some church groups have started organizing alternative events for All Saints’ Day.

This week, a church group organized the third All Saints’ Day ball in the Polish town of Plock, according to a Catholic news site Niedziela – which means Sunday – which reported that “the children came dressed as saints and blessed of the Catholic Church and as angels.”

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